Anne Kloster Holst has previously held the position of chairperson of the Board and member of the Friends of the Rafto Foundation (2001-2010), and since 1998 has worked as a volunteer on various Rafto Foundation projects.

Strong desire to help the Rafto Foundation
She has headed the "Look into the future" project in cooperation with 1999 Rafto Prize winner Gennady Grushevoy from Belarus. "Look into the future" is an annual youth conference where young people in Belarus can improve their knowledge about democracy and human rights.

In the autumn of 1998, Anne Kloster Holst was a Rafto volunteer in connection with the official opening of the Rafto House. In particular, she remembers meeting Rafto Prize winner Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s youngest son, Kim Aris, who opened the Rafto House on behalf of his mother.

Anne Kloster Holst agreed to head the Board of the Rafto Foundation because of a strong desire to help the Rafto Foundation continue its positive development both professionally and in terms of the Foundation’s organisation, to benefit Rafto laureates and the work for human rights.

She takes over from Karin Joys Vabø, who has been chairperson since 2008.

Broad background
Anne Kloster Holst holds a cand. mag. in economics, with French and History of Art as subsidiary subjects. For more information, see Anne Kloster Holst’s CV (in Norwegian).

She has worked at the Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Higher Education (SIU) since 2007. Before joining SIU, she has held the positions of business manager at Bergen Kunsthall, branch manager at ProAnalysis AS and consultant at the National Institute of Technology in Oslo.

Rafto Foundation – new Board of Directors 2010
The Rafto Foundation’s Board of Directors comprises eight members:

Anne Kloster Holst – chairperson. (New)
Work: Advisor, Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Higher Education.

Tom O. Kleppestø – deputy chairperson. (Re-elected)
Work: Director, Kompetansepartner.

Asunción Lera-St. Clair –member. (Re-elected)
Work: Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Bergen.

Kåre Rommetveit – member. (Re-elected)
Work: Director, Bergen Medical Research Foundation.

Jan Ramstad – member. (Re-elected)
Work: Self-employed and Chairman of the Board of the Rafto House Foundation.

Harald Kobbe – member. (New)
Work: Lawyer/partner, Kluge. 

Lene Eltvik – member. (New)
Work: Head of innovation/business development, Bergens Tidende. 

Gunta Venge – employee’s representative. (New)
Work: Rafto Prize Coordinator.

Martin Paulsen – observer, representative of the Rafto Prize Committee.
Work: Post-doctor and researcher on the project "The future of Russian" at the Department of Foreign Languages, University of Bergen. Areas of research: linguistics, Russian literature, Internet.

Else Kathrine Nesmoen – observer, chairperson of the Friends of the Rafto Foundation’s Board of Directors. (New)
Work: Advisor, Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Higher Education (SIU).

Press contact – new Board of Directors for the Rafto Foundation
Chairperson of the Rafto Foundation’s Board of Directors, Anne Kloster Holst
Mobile: +47 91 71 88 49   
E-mail: aklo-hol(at)online.no
www.rafto.no 
 
Head of Information, the Rafto Foundation, Kari Amble
Telephone: +47 55 21 09 75
Mobile:       +47 91 31 44 17
E-mail:       kari.amble(at)rafto.no
www.rafto.no
Facebook – Raftostiftelsen

Related links:

Rafto laureate Grushevoy supports Belarusian youth